SITA UK has signed a 10 million contract with Walsall council to take over the operation of two household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) and a waste transfer station from next month.
The seven-year contract, which was announced yesterday (March 11) has the option for a one-year extension and will see the HWRCs at Fryers Road in Bloxwich and Merchants Way in Aldridge move under SITA control, as well as the transfer station at the Bloxwich site.
Altogether, the sites handle around 100,000 tonnes of waste per year, including residual waste, commingled recyclables, green waste and street sweepings. Around 16,000 tonnes of this is processed at the recycling centres and another 85,000 tonnes is handled at the transfer station.
According to SITA UK, which is a subsidiary of French firm Suez Environnement, Walsall council is keen to see recycling rates increase and a reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill.
Graham Mayes, chief operating officer for SITA UK, said: As a company we want to live in a society where there is no more waste, where everything is given a second life either through recycling or through energy-recovery. Well be doing everything we can to increase recycling rates at these centres and make sure Walsalls waste is put to good use.
‘Well be doing everything we can to increase recycling rates at these centres and make sure Walsalls waste is put to good use.’
Graham Mayes, chief operating officer for SITA UK
Walsall
Walsall councillor Mohammed Arif, portfolio holder for the environment, said: The council has a number of key objectives over the coming years when it comes to waste and recycling and we are confident this new partnership will help us achieve our aims and provide a service which meets the needs of, and benefits, our residents.
Our household waste recycling centres provide a vital service in enabling residents to recycle materials that we cannot remove from the kerbside and we want to make people more aware of the importance of recycling and encourage them to use these facilities.
SITA UK said all current staff at the facilities will be transferred to the company under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment regulation) arrangements from previous contractor Kier May Gurney when the new contract starts on April 1 2014.
The agreement follows what SITA UK chief executive David Palmer-Jones told letsrecycle.com in December had been a transformational year for the company in 2013, with progress made on infrastructure projects such as the St Dennis incinerator in Cornwall (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, last week, the Office of Fair Trading approved European Metal Recycling (EMR)s acquisition of five scrap metal recycling sites from SITA UK after a three-month long inquiry (see letsrecycle.com story). The sale will see around 100 SITA staff transferred to EMR.
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